In today’s fast-paced business environment, automation is essential for streamlining processes and improving efficiency. Centers of Excellence are vital in standardizing processes and structures for enterprise-wide scalability. In this series, eCapital Advisors shares the path to creating a successful center for maximum efficiency, productivity, and adaptability in 2023 and beyond.
Phase One: Process Discovery
To start, a business beginning a successful automation Center of Excellence will embark on Process Discovery. That’s because inefficiencies in business processes often cause of delays, errors, and backlogs. By automating these processes, businesses can drive momentous improvements in productivity and efficiency. First, the goal is to identify process(es) with the most significant potential impact. Second, the aim is to determine which process(es) should be automated.
For companies with complex procedures and multi-dimensional processes, this discovery stage may seem daunting. However, the eCapital Advisors team has the expertise and experience to analyze strategies, determine the systems that are affected, and estimate the RIO from automation. The Automation Assessment can guide the first step toward becoming a successful Center of Excellence.
Key Takeaway: The Process Discovery stage is crucial for identifying the processes with the most significant automation potential, resulting in increased efficiency and productivity.
Discovery with Documentation
Documentation is another critical step in identifying high-value processes for automation. In essence, documentation provides a comprehensive and analytical representation of each process. This includes business outcomes, time to execute, and the number of people responsible for execution. The automation team at eCapital Advisors can assist with documentation. Our team uses best practices and can pull processes descriptions from recordings, Word documents, or PDF files.
Key Takeaway: Proper documentation is essential for identifying high-value processes for automation, ensuring a comprehensive and analytical representation of each process.
Process Mapping
Now, the high-value processes have been identified and documented. The next step is to map current processes from beginning to end. You should identify how it integrates with existing systems, security requirements, and other individual needs. Oftentimes, this mapping processes uncovers breaks in the system.
Use Case
The eCapital team recently helped a Milwaukee-based casino streamline its deposit data logging process for table games. Before the process discovery, casino staff manually downloaded and logged information from 50 separate PDFs into Excel. The task was time-consuming and error-prone. During the process mapping, the eCapital team discovered a single Excel file containing the aggregated data. That find alone reduced the time and effort needed for the task and curbed the possibility of human error.
Key Takeaway: Process mapping allows for a clearer understanding of the organization’s processes, reducing time and minimizing human error through automation.
Standardization
Standardization involves developing a standardized procedure moving forward. The more efficient process integrates with existing systems, security requirements, and other individual needs. This results in a custom roadmap that the company can repeatedly use to automate processes. In addition to saving time and money, automation can improve customer experience, accuracy, and auditability.
Key Takeaway: Standardization is crucial for integrating the organization’s existing systems and security requirements with automation, resulting in a custom roadmap for repeatable success.
Get Started with Process Discovery
Maximize efficiency and productivity with automation by starting with Process Discovery. The ROI is significant, with improved efficiency, reduced errors, and increased staff productivity. Contact eCapital Advisors today to get started with Process Discovery and begin creating a successful automation Center of Excellence.
